Cigarette holder



19 L. MANSFIELD 2,779,340

CIGARETTE HOLDER Filed Aug. 16, 1954 Lee Mansfield ATTORNEY INVENTOR I 2,779,340 Patented Jan. 29, 1957 CIGARETTE HOLDER Lee Mansfield, Sanford, Fla. Application August 16, 1954, Serial No. 449,847

3 Claims. (Cl. 131-175 The present invention relates to cigarette holders and more particularly to a cigarette holder which safely covers the entire cigarette including the burning portion thereof, to prevent accidental, starting of fires.

Heretofore cigarette holders of various types have been used and some have been provided with filters and also provided with guards to cover the burning cigarette. However, none of these holders has been entirely satisfactory and nonehas been accepted for general use, and, therefore, res are started by persons smoking in bed or falling asleep while sitting in-chairs. Up to the present there has been no satisfactory solution which overcomes the problem of fires caused by smoking.

An object of the present invention is to produce a cigarette holder which completely surrounds the burning cigarette and prevents burning particles of tobacco from coming into contact with inflammable material.

- A further object of the invention is to provide a cigarette holder in which a filter may be readily inserted and removed so that the smoker can change the filter sufliciently ofter reduce the danger caused by nicotine and other harmful constituents of the tobacco.

A further object of the invention is to provide a cigarette holder made of readily separable parts so that the holder may be disassembled for cleaning.

A further object is to provide a safety cigarette holder, with a guarding means for the burning cigarette and in which the guarding means will be maintained in a definite angular relation to the flattened mouthpiece of the holder.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective of the cigarette holder in extended condition for use; i i

Fig. 2, a longitudinal section taken on line"2-2 of Fig. 1, showing a lighted cigarette and filter in position;

Fig. 3, a section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and,

Fig. 4, an exploded view of the parts of the cigarette holder with the cover of the guard being partially open.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the cigarette holder comprises a tubular stem lltl having av flattened 17 in a bore and intermediate the ends thereof. One end of the supporttelescopically receives the stem extension 13 within a portion 18 of the here, 'A tubularejector 19 is provided with a flange 2d at one end thereof and a threaded portion 21 at the other end, said ejector being telescopically received in the support 16 and having its body extending beyond the shoulder 17. The ejectorpw is reciprocable within a portion 22 of the bore of the support 16, the flange 29, being adapted to engage the shoulder 17 to prevent passage of the ejector completely through the support. The threaded portion 21 of the scoped in the dotted line position to ejector 19 is engageable in the threaded portion 15 of the stem extension 13. A compression spring 23 is located within the portion 18 of the bore of the support and has oneend abutting against the end portion 15 of the stem extension and the other end engaging the shoulder 17 thereby urging the stem extension and ejector to the position shown in Fig. 2. in order to prevent relative rotation between the stem extension and the support the spring is provided with small lug portions 24 and 25 engageable within depressions 26 and 27, respectively, of the support and stem extension to prevent unintentional rotation between the parts when in assembled relation.

The portion 22 of the bore in the cigarette support lid is of a size to snugly receive a cigarette 23 and the bore may have a flared portion 29 for facilitating entry of the cigarette into the support. An outwardly extending flange 30 is provided on the outer end of the cigarette support 16 and such flange has a notch 31 formed therein. A perforated tubular guard 32 has a longitudinal lower portion 33 which i substantially free of perforations. An inwardly extending flange 3 is provided on one end of the guard 32 and the guard is telescopically mounted on the support lid with the flange 34 adapted to abut the flange 36 to limit outward movement of the guard. The flange 3h being of a size to snugly engage the inner periphery of the guard and the flange 34 being of a size to snugly engage the outer periphery of the support 16. A longitudinal internal rib 35 is provided along the inner periphery of the guard 32 to register with the notch 31 to prevent relative rotation between the guard and the sup port.

A cover or door 36 is mounted by means of a pivotal connection 37 to the lower outer end of the perforated guard 33 and a suitable catch 38 which may be of the spring type engages an abutment 39 on the upper surface of the guard 32, the cover being swingable to a position completely clear of the inner periphery of the guard so that the guard may be removed from the holder 17 by an inwardly telescoping movement thereof.

The stem 10 and stem extension 13 have communicating passages which also communicate with the passage in the ejector 19 for receiving a filter til which has one portion 41 of large diameter within the stem and stem extension and a portion 42 of smaller diameter for reception into the passage of the ejector 19. The filter may be readily replaced by separating the stem Ill from the stem extension 13 without having to separate the ejector from the stem extension.

It will be noted that a substantial portion of the cigarette 28 extends into the portion 22 of the support 16 and when the cigarette burns to the outer end of the bore 22 the small stub will be extinguished by the cooling effect of the holder lldthereby preventing consumption of the entire cigarette.

in order to use the holder, the cover 36 is opened and a cigarette 28 is inserted into thehore portion 22 of the support 15 as shown in Fig. 2, the guard 32 being telefacilitate the insertion of the cigarette and the lighting of the same. After the cigarette has been lighted, the guard is moved to the position shown in solid lines and the cover 36 is closed and held in closed position by catch 38, after which the cigarette can be safely smoked. If, for any-reason, the holder with a lighted cigarette therein should contact combustible material, the burning cigarette cannot come into direct contact with such combustbile material. The perforations in the guard are sufficiently small to prevent burning fragments of tobacco from passing therethrough, but are of suflicient size and sufficient number to permit air for the smoking operation. After the smoker has iinishcd'the cigarette, such cigarette may be removed by opening the door 36 and ejecting the cigarette by merely 3 pushing the stem 10 into the holder 16 against the action of the compression spring 23, thereby forcing the flange 2% against the end of the cigarette 2% and forcibly ejecting the cigarette stub from the bore portionZZ of the support 16.

After use the ashes retained in the guard during the smoking operation may be dumped from the open end of the guard 32 and the guard may be telescoped on to the holder as shown in dotted lines to reduce the over all dimensions for carrying or storage.

it will be evident that the stern, stern extension and holder will be made of suitable material such as plastic or synthetic resins which will not be ignited by a cigarette and the ejector may be made of metal or other suitable material. The guard 32 is preferably made of metal and provides safety in smoking adjacent inflammable material, and it is contemplated that the guard 32 may be made of safety screen such as used in miners lamps to prevent ignition of gases, dust and the like.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and therefore the invention is not limited by that which is illustrated in the drawing and described. in the specification, but only as indicated accompanying claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A safety cigarette holder adapted to permit smoking adjacent inflammable material comprising a tubular mouthpiece having a mouth-engaging portion at an inner end thereof, a tubular cigarette support having a shoulder on its inner periphery intermediate its ends and telescopically mounted with one end on the outer end of the mouthpiece, a tubular ejector having a flange at an outer end thereof and means on the inner end to connect the inner end thereof to the said outer end of the mouthpiece, said ejector being mounted in the tubular cigarette support with its flange on the side of the shoulder adjacent the said outer end of the support, a compression spring mounted in said support and reacting against the side of said shoulder adjacent the inner end, said spring having longitudinally extending lugs at each end, said mouthpiece and said support being provided with longitudinal recesses adapted to receive the adjacent lugs on said spring for maintaining said support and said mouthpiece in proper registry whereby angular alignment will be maintained during use, and an ash guard mounted on said support.

2. The invention according to claim 1 in which the ash guard is telescopically mounted on the support and means are provided to prevent relative rotation of said guard on said support.

3. The invention according to claim 1 in which filter means are provided in the mouthpiece for filtering smoke passing therethrough.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,514,471 Solberg Nov. .4, 1924 1,527,519 Kimball Feb. 24, 1925 2,005,233 Martin June 18, 1935 2,228,951 Franklin Jan. 14, 1941 2,518,131 Fook Aug. 8, 1950 2,625,163 Jones et a1. Jan. 13, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 63,758 Denmark July 30, 1945 607,728 Great Britain Sept. 3, 1948 

